Hail Day and sons of Day!
Hail Night and her daughters!Hail to the Aesier! Hail the Asynjur!
Hail to all the bountiful earth!~ from Sigdrifa’s prayer
Frigg, bless me as I work. Like you, I am a mother, but I have no idea how to do this. Some moments are filled with such joy. In some I can’t breathe. There are days I feel I’ve lost myself, and days I feel like I’ve found where I’m supposed to be. But through it all, I know I cannot let them down. Help me find balance.
Idunna, bless me as I work. I have taken over the cooking, and I wish to nourish my family well. Help me create food that will make them hale and help them be at peace within. I have a complicated relationship with food because of what it does to my body.* If I have finally hit upon the solution to the endless loop of pain and anxiety, please help me accept it and find ways to work within new constraints. Help me take joy in food again.
Frau Holda, bless me as I work. Help me keep good cheer as I keep the kitchen and the laundry running smoothly. Persistent effort has not traditionally been my forte, but I know the importance of this. And bless my husband as he works. Thanks to all the gods he’s in charge of the rest of the house! Help me be steady and dependable.
Freya, bless me as I work. I have a husband whom I love deeply. I appreciate the work he does and cannot fathom a life without him. Help us to keep that connection steady, to grow together in love not only as a family, but as a couple. After the girls have grown and gone, TheScott and I will remain. We must keep ourselves whole and hale throughout these challenging times. Help me to be a lover as well as a mother.
Bragi, bless me as I work. I have a job that is flourishing and I love, but I can get sucked into the newness of having my work finally out there, the vanity of it, the trappings without the real work–the words. Help me find my next project and embrace it, carry it forward and get back to what I do–writing
Odin, bless me as I work. I asked how to weather the Hunt; you answered that I already had it in me to do so. Help me keep the long term goals in mind and strive toward them with your wiles and wisdom. Help me know what I must sacrifice to achieve my ends and what I can keep.
Ancestors, be with me as I work. Help me guide our line with integrity so that we grow our good name, our good deeds and our good fortunes.
Look on us here
with loving eyes
and give victory to those gathered.~from Sigdrifa’s Prayer
* I have had food related problems for years regarding something my body doesn’t digest right. The problems it causes range from mild to 24 hours of toilet hugging nausea. For people like me who have a harder to diagnose case, it can lead to a fear of eating because you have no grasp of what is going to cause you to spend the next day in pain. This fear can even be chemically spiked, because poorly digested food can trigger hormone responses that can do an assortment of things from create depression-like symptoms to instigating panic attacks.
I’m currently on a diet to test for histamine intolerance. I have to avoid chocolate, citrus fruit, aged cheese (but not fresh cheese), vinegar (inc. anything picked), yeast, red berries and fruit (like strawberries, cherries and plums), nuts (although almonds in moderation are okay), spinach, tomatoes, avocados, eggplant (unless peeled), smoked and cured meats, chicken skin (but the meat is fine) and alcohol (although vodka, gin and clear rum are okay in moderation). Unlike a lactose intolerance which, while a bummer to live with, is easy to figure out what foods are included, some of the more obscure intolerances like fructose malabsorption and histamine intolerance have wacky lists that don’t seem to connect, causing a lot of frustration for people who have them as they try to grasp at straws for what’s causing our bodies to freak out.
+ Featured Image: Brünnhilde wakes up and greets the day and Siegfried by Arthur Rackham
